Heeeeeeeeeeeelp me please

[MrWhite]

I needed to upgrade my graphics card only for a cheap price... so i bought this:

http://www.joytech.com/xabre 400 128MB Ultra.htm?prd_id=S315DV32MTV


And my brother (who's jealous i got it) is telling me i should give it back cause I have PCI slots on my motherboard and it uses AGP slots or something... maybe he said ATI i dont know...

is he lieing or is he telling the truth? and if he's telling the truth what do i do? the guy on e-bay wont take it back... but its still wrapped in its new package

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Well for one, its manufactered by some unknown company. I would DEF. send it back and buy a new Nvidia or ATi card. And yes he is lieing, that makes no sense what he said. Your mobo has AGP slots and PCI slots, and if that is AGP then just put it in the AGP slot. I would still DEF. send it back somehow.

 

[MrWhite]

well the company sells both ATi and SiS cards or something, and this ones an SiS or something similar

oh and the internal diagram for my pc only shows PCI slots

i hate you dell

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Never knew SiS sold GFX cards. But is there anyway to return it? It would be much better to buy an Nvidia or ATi.

 

[MrWhite]

No theres no way... the guy said he wouldnt take it back

i hate you dell and e-bay

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Damn, that sucks. I never order things like these off ebay, not smart. You should have come here for advice on what card to get before buying it. Maybe you should sell it on ebay, hehe.

 

[MrWhite]

i guess I'll have to if it doesnt work... why does baby jesus hate me?

I was also on limited budget, so the normal reccomeded cards here are way outta my price range

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Im sure it will work, but thats not the point. SiS is obviously known not to make good cards, which means crappy drivers, support, etc. It would be muuuuuch better just to sell it and buy Nvidia/Ati

 

[MrWhite]

i guesss... its a 190 dollar card new... i suppose i could get... 40 for it on e-bay

i hate you e-bay and dell and graphics... stupid graphics

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

What??? Sell it for $150-160

 

[Arrowhead]

whoa, ok what kind of MB do you have? not all MBs automaticly have an AGP slot.

do you have a lonely dark colored slot to fit the card in? light beige slots are PCI.

 

[MrWhite]

k now you just confused me... i dont know shit about computers... dont bother trying to explain it, i wont waste your time

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Originally posted by Arrowhead
whoa, ok what kind of MB do you have? not all MBs automaticly have an AGP slot.

do you have a lonely dark colored slot to fit the card in? light beige slots are PCI.

Yes thats true. And i just read he has a dell, so youd better check that out whitey.

EDIT: Just open up your case, look on the motherboard for a brown or black slot, usually close to RAM and CPU. The PCI slots are a creamy color, and away from everything else. Theres only one AGP, and several PCIs.

 

[MrWhite]

alright im checkin now

 

[MrWhite]

k, well i see the PCI slots like before, but by the RAm i only see the fan compartment and those wavey things (forgive me, dont know much about computers) the flat wide wavey cord thingies

 

[Arrowhead]

Originally posted by MrWhite
k, well i see the PCI slots like before, but by the RAm i only see the fan compartment and those wavey things (forgive me, dont know much about computers) the flat wide wavey cord thingies

if there are no other slots, than you'll have to settle on a PCI card.

What kind of card do you have in there now anyways?

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

The IDE cables. Ok, so thats not good. If you cant find it, maybe you dont see it. D/l a system diagnostic program like SiSoft's SANDRA. www.sisoftware.co.uk

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Originally posted by Arrowhead
if there are no other slots, than you'll have to settle on a PCI card.

What kind of card do you have in there now anyways?

He probly has on-board video.

 

[MrWhite]

a very crappy one

 

[MrWhite]

yeahhh i dont have one

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

That sucks. So you need to sell that card. Theres not many good PCI cards out there, theres a GF4 MX thats PCI, but its bad. really bad. I think there might be a FX 5200 thats PCI, but thats even worse. I suggest informing yourself alot about comps, and building a new one, rather then buying a prebuilt.

 

[Noodlygod]

I would also suggest saving up your money and buying a whole new system. But you could always buy one from a local shop, that way you don't have to learn how to build one and it'll be backed by someone other than yourself =). (Unless you want to learn how to build one of course)

 

[zool]

Best thing is to ask in forums like this one, do a little research on internet and learn how to build it yourself and also which components are the best. Prebuilt systems screw you out of your money, They sell a shiny box with mediocre to crappy components for a expensive price.

For the most part it's the same with computer shops, but you don't get the shiny box, you get a ugly ass beige one instead, might get the system a little bit cheaper from a shop though... And depending on how experienced the staff is, if your unlucky you could get a crappy built system that is overheated and will **** up in a matter of time(normally just after the warranty has expired ). Trust me on this, I have worked for a computer shop, at their headquarters building computers and they had allot of unexperienced ppl building their systems (including me). I'm allot more experienced now though, but I don't work with computers any more.

A friend of mine always buys his computer from the same shop.. Their prices are ok, but they are very unexperienced. I have also bought a computer from them (long time ago) and they don't know anything on how to set the BIOS, I had to fix that on my own and they once installed the heatsink wrong on my friends computer, his cpu was about 70C idle.

So the best way is to do it yourself imho. Good luck!

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Originally posted by zool
his cpu was about 70C idle.

Errr... I totally doubt that, unless they were stupid enough to not put any HSF on at all.

 

[zool]

Originally posted by Sgt.Igneri
Errr... I totally doubt that, unless they were stupid enough to not put any HSF on at all.

I'm not sure, don't have all the details around that.. I'm only quoting what he told me. He said they had some how placed the heatsink wrong and it made it less effective, allot!.. According to him he almost burnt his hand on the hot air blown out from his rear case fans.. He might have been exaggerating a bit there , but ~70 °C is pretty warm though. I think he has a Athlon 1200. Old non-XP Athlons go really hot even with a proper heatsink.

 

[zool]

Allot of heatsinks have cooling paste already "glued" to them.. Sort of feels like rubber, but it melts as soon as it gets warm. If the had placed the heatsink the wrong way, not making the cooling paste connect with the core.. Then 70 °C his quite possible.

EDIT: I'm not sure if thats the case though.. Or even possible for that matter.